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By Juliet Martinez, Managing Editor
I need to send a very special thank you to the Homepage readers who have completed the reader feedback survey so far.
Unfortunately, it’s not that many people, but I do value the input greatly. At press time, 29 readers have taken the time to complete the survey; 28 of those completed it online. Greenfield boasts the most respondents with 13, which Greater Hazelwood comes in second with 10. The lion’s share of the responses have come from white readers between the ages of 41 and 55 who are politically progressive, make more than $110,000 per year and get the paper delivered for free each month.
In order to better reflect the views of all Homepage readers, the survey will need to get more responses from: younger readers of color, readers with lower income, politically conservative readers, and people who do not spend much time online.
That’s a nudge. If you're reading this, I want to hear from you!
Early findings
So far, I have learned that close to two thirds of the respondents felt The Homepage is a great resource for their communities. Another third described it as pretty good for a community paper. About half of those who answered said they feel the paper has improved in the last few years (I started in August of 2021, you may recall).
I was thrilled to see that measuring trust in The Homepage on a scale of one to 10, 77% gave it an 8, 9 or 10. And more than 80% answered 8, 9 or 10 out of 10 for being likely to recommend it to a friend or colleague.
The top three news topics for these readers are infrastructure (42%), development (46%) and community meetings (30%). They said they want to see even more development stories and more coverage of local government. Almost all of them (89%) said they always read the front page, while a whole lot of them (78%) never do the Sudoku/Str8ts. Should I ditch that?
These readers had great suggestions for what would improve their opinion of The Homepage. They asked for more climate change coverage, more community events and more Greenfield stories.
One reader asked for “less fluff, more investigative journalism.” I don’t like to think The Homepage runs fluff, but I can concede that investigative journalism is hard to pull off with a one-person newsroom. I would love to run more investigative stories, though, so I will be looking for ways to make that happen.
Things you want to know
These are some of the questions that readers had.
• How can one learn more about advertising in The Homepage?
Email me at jmartinez@hazelwoodinitiative.org, call 412-421-7234 ext. 406, or visit www.hazelwoodinitiative.org/homepage-
community-newspaper.
• Is advertising only open to businesses based in The Homepage’s circulation area?
No, advertisers from around the region can and do buy ad space.
• Is there an overflow of possible stories each month?
Yes. I start with a bunch of ideas and then see what I have the time and space for.
• How do I decide what goes on the front page every month?
Broadly speaking, it’s original journalistic reporting that affects readers in the neighborhoods we serve. Some exceptions apply, of course.
• What happened to Community Voices?
Great question! I’m not sure why there were fewer Community Voices submissions over the summer, but I appreciate the nudge to make people aware they can submit their stories or opinion pieces for publication.
I would love to hear from anyone who has an idea they want to write about in The Homepage. Contact me!
If you want to see more of the feedback I've been getting, contact me. And if you haven't taken the survey yet, you can scan the QR code at the bottom of the facing page, or just send me your thoughts directly. I look forward to getting your feedback.
Finally, to the reader who wrote, “Just keep evolving,” thank you. That’s the plan!
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